Stage lighting....

highlydebased

Right

I've been mobile DJ'ing for the last year or so, the one problem I have always had is the lighting and 8 gigs out of 10, some light blowing circuit breakers or plugs or something.

I'm probably wiring up my setup incorrectly. At the moment I'm using bog standard plugs and extension leads which is probably quite dodgy.

I've seen some (more organised!!) mobile DJ's use these http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/16A-plug.jpg
to power and entire stand of lighting

I've also seen BS546 (round pin) used quite a bit.

How should I go about wiring it up correctly? Should I change plugs and so on? If so how could these be used in a standard domestic circuit...unfortunately thats often all thats available to me at some gigs



all suggestions/help appriciated

Stoner

well coiled up extension leads will add electrical load, you could try uncoiling your leads etc

Connecting those plugtops is easy, although typically there are stage lighting supplies for those sockets these are usually decicated and will have more current avaiulable to you, round pin plugtops also carry more current then square.

regardless of what you use to connect somthing to a circuit, a circuit can only supply so much current, sharing the load across more circuits is always a good bet.

Not point in connecting a C - Com socket or a round pin plug tops if its all going on one 20Amp breaker.

DublinDilbert

the up stairs, down stairs and kitchen of a house should be on different circuits... you could bring a long heavy duty extension lead to one of the other circuits in the house... hence put 1/2 your load on the down stairs circuit and 1/2 on the kitchen for example....

highlydebased

I've always uncolied leads from a safety point of view

Would it be worth switching to round pin plugtops then? are trailing sockets for round pin widely available...


I try to spread load as much as possible, but with often few sockets to work with its rather difficult


I've done hte long extension lead a few times, not the most practical though

afatbollix

a normal plug in the wall should be able to take 3 kw... but thats alot to put into one plug... what type of stage lights do you use? the 16amp you link to above wouldent really be any use to you as you would have to step down to 13 amp to plug it into the wall.. as any sockets that take 16 amp ussally are dimmers... and dont have 100% power all the time..

fishdog

a normal plug in the wall should be able to take 3 kw... but thats alot to put into one plug...

A normal plug has a maximum of a 13A fuse. At 3kW at 230 volts gives about 13A. It is not reccomended to push the load to the limit. I have seen old or worn sockets melt from this.

Stoner

I guess Neon-Circles that you can only do so much at your end, the locations you go to need to provide you with enough circuits and power to run your equipment.

If your equipment is tripping MCBs etc, then the MCBs are doing their job and you have too much equipment on the circuit, if they did not trip then the leads etc would melt.

It could be the case that you are doing all you can but the locations just cant accommodate your electrical requirements.

typically in designs where stage lighting is required there are banks of dedicated circuits to avoid the situation you are in, pubs etc seldom allow for you guys.

It would be worth your while trying to locate sockets on other circuits, but with leads running everywhere and H&S I doubt it will address the issue, generators etc would not be a good idea for many many reasons.

You need more power , or drop power, lower wattage equipment etc. IMO

fishdog

You need more power , or drop power, lower wattage equipment etc. IMO

I think Stoner has hit the nail on the head. This is the best solution, look at lighting that uses less power. Many places you set up at will not have the power requirements in place that you will require.

LED lights for example use very little, I know they are not that bright but you can use so many of them. You also have the benifit that they do not blow (well almost never).

Technology has moved on alot with LEDs in recent times. Just look at how bright LED traffic lights are now.

I is effect lighting you are looking for I guess.

highlydebased

Yea effect lighting.......

I've got two 600w yokes which are the main source of the problem, I've left them at home for a few small gigs and have gotten on fine with my smaller lights, for larger venues I've done that even has a stage, there might only be one or two sockets which is a pain in the backside! Never mind the lights but then I have to also power my sound gear..!!!

I'll have to look into LED stuff so